Excise duty on instruments priced above Rs 2,000 has been raised to six per cent but the concessional excise duty of one per cent and has been kept unchanged in the case of low priced phones.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said excise duty on Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) will be raised to 30 per cent from 27 per cent. "SUVs occupy greater road and parking space and ought to bear a higher tax... However, the increase will not apply to SUVs registered as taxis," Chidambaram said.

"What does a Finance Minister turn to when he requires resources? The answer is cigarettes. I propose to increase the specific excise duty on cigarettes by about 18 per cent. Similar increases are proposed on cigars, cheroots and cigarillos," Chidambaram said.

Basic customs duty on new passenger cars and other motor vehicles (high-end cars) costing more than USD 40,000 and/or engine capacity exceeding 3,000cc for petrol run vehicles and exceeding 2500 cc for diesel run vehicles has been hiked 100 per cent from 75 per cent earlier.

Basic customs duty on new passenger cars and other motor vehicles (high-end cars) costing more than USD 40,000 and/or engine capacity exceeding 3,000cc for petrol run vehicles and exceeding 2500 cc for diesel run vehicles has been hiked 100 per cent from 75 per cent earlier.

Duty on yachts and similar vessels has also been raised to 25 per cent from 10 per cent

At present, service tax of 12 per cent does not apply to A/C restaurants that do not serve liquor.Bringing them under the purview of service tax, the FM said "The distinction is artificial, and I propose to levy service tax on all air conditioned restaurants,"

Sales of immovable property worth over Rs 50 lakh gets costlier.

Homes and flats with a carpet area of 2,000 sq ft or more or of a value of Rs 1 crore will also become more expensive as the rate of abatement for this class of buildings has been reduced from 75 per cent to 70 per cent.

The excise duty on marbles will go up from Rs. 30 per cent feet to Rs. 60 per feet, Mr Chidambaram said.

Silk clothes made using imported raw materials will become expensive as customs duty on raw silk of all grades has been increased to 15 per cent from 5 per cent.

Set top boxes will also become costlier with basic customs duty on the item has been increased 10 per cent from from 5 per cent.

Get ready to shell out more for parking.

Branded apparels will also become cheaper as there will be no excise duty on the item. Last year, 10 per cent excise duty was levied on 30 per cent of the maximum retail price (MRP).

Good news for ladies and their gentlemen.

Carpets and other textile floor coverings of coir or jute will also become less expensive as they have been fully exempted from excise duty.